Jeffrey Lacasse — Direct/Cross
481 linesJUDGE HANKINSON: Everybody be seated, please.
JUDGE HANKINSON: Call your next witness, Ms. Cappleman.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: The State calls Jeffrey Lacasse.
JUDGE HANKINSON: If you'd face the clerk and raise your right hand, please.
COURT CLERK: Do you swear the testimony you're about to give in this case will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?
JEFFREY LACASSE: I do.
JUDGE HANKINSON: You may proceed.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Thank you. Sir, please introduce yourself and spell your first and last name.
JEFFREY LACASSE: Yeah, I'm Jeffrey Lacasse. J-E-F-F-R-E-Y. Excuse me — last name spelled L-A-C-A-S-S-E.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: How are you employed, Mr. Lacasse?
JEFFREY LACASSE: I'm employed at Florida State University as an associate professor.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: All right. What about back in 2014?
JEFFREY LACASSE: I was an assistant professor at Florida State University.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: And did you have a relationship with Wendi Adelson?
JEFFREY LACASSE: I did.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: What type of relationship was that?
JEFFREY LACASSE: Um, we started dating in the fall of 2013. In 2013, she became my girlfriend around March of 2014.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Okay, and when did that relationship end?
JEFFREY LACASSE: July of 2014.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Okay. And when the breakup occurred, was there a big argument that occurred that precipitated the breakup?
JEFFREY LACASSE: We had an argument in late June. She went to South Florida for a couple of weeks, and when she came back, we tried to make things work, and it didn't really work. She sort of cut off contact.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: And during that argument, when she went to South Florida, was she in South Florida on July 1st?
JEFFREY LACASSE: I thought she was. I dropped her off at her house on June 29th, I believe.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: And during the course of your relationship with Ms. Adelson, did you ever meet her family?
JEFFREY LACASSE: I did.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Who did you meet?
JEFFREY LACASSE: I met her brother. We went to South Florida for alternative spring break, went to Immokalee, and I had dinner with her and her brother. And I met her mother at her house, just very briefly, maybe 10, 15 minutes at dinner. And when I would pick her up and the kids were there with the grandparents, I would have just a couple moments' interaction with them. I didn't have a lot of contact.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Okay. And what about Katherine Magbanua? Did you ever have an occasion to meet her?
JEFFREY LACASSE: Yeah, I went to dinner with her. I believe it was on March 11th, when we went over there to meet Charlie.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Okay, so who was present at that meal on March 11th? And that's 2014.
JEFFREY LACASSE: That's correct. Um, it was myself, Wendi Adelson, Charlie, and Katie.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Charlie Adelson?
JEFFREY LACASSE: Charlie and Katherine Magbanua.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Thank you. What about Sigfredo Garcia? Did you ever have an occasion to meet him?
JEFFREY LACASSE: I did not. I've never met him.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Um, was Ms. Adelson very close to her parents and her brother Charlie?
JEFFREY LACASSE: Extremely close.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: I want to ask you about June 4th, 2014. Do you recall an event that occurred that day that was unusual?
JEFFREY LACASSE: Yeah, I remember a couple of unusual occurrences on June 4th.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Could you tell us about that, please?
JEFFREY LACASSE: Yeah, I had met Ms. Adelson at the Red Eye coffee shop in Midtown for a coffee about one or two o'clock in the afternoon. We were going to talk about the relationship a little bit, and she canceled a trip we had planned to California to visit my parents, which was scheduled for July 11th to 17th.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: All right. And was she acting strangely that night?
JEFFREY LACASSE: Yeah, that night she was a nervous wreck, to the point— I couldn't put my finger on why at the time— to the point where she looked kind of— we were way up Centerville and there's no convenience stores or anything close, and I actually took about 35 minutes and drove to a convenience store to get her Pepto-Bismol, because she was such a nervous wreck and had a real nervous stomach that evening.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Okay. And did she ever tell you what the problem was?
JEFFREY LACASSE: No, she was very nonspecific about it.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Were you aware, during the course of your relationship with Ms. Adelson, about her efforts to relocate to South Florida with the children?
JEFFREY LACASSE: I certainly was.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: All right. And were you in her life when she learned that the court was not going to permit her to take the children to South Florida?
JEFFREY LACASSE: No. Our first date was September 27th, 2013, so that was a topic of conversation on our first couple of dates, but it was in the past when we discussed it.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: All right. And was Ms. Adelson happy about the fact that she was not able to relocate?
JEFFREY LACASSE: No, she was quite bitter about it, actually. It was, as I said, a topic that came up on those first two dates.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: All right. Did she make any statements to you in reference to her brother considering options to take care of this problem with her not being able to relocate?
JEFFREY LACASSE: Yes, she did.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Mr.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Lacasse, when we broke, we were talking about statements made to you by Wendi Adelson about her brother considering options to take care of her relocation problem.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: What, if any, statements did she tell you to that effect?
JEFFREY LACASSE: Yes, ma'am. On July 13, 2014, Wendi and I were speaking, and she asked me if she could share something with me confidentially. I told her sure. She mentioned — or she said — that Charlie had explored all options to take care of the problem, and that he had looked into having Professor Markel killed, and it would cost about fifteen thousand dollars. I later talked to investigators and said that could have been fifty thousand dollars; they sound awful alike. Okay, so you're not sure if she said fifteen or fifty. That's right, but I'm confident she made that statement. I just can't remember the exact dollar amount. And she did state that was during the relocation battle — the previous summer is when that had taken place. All right, and the day that she made the statement to you was July 13th of 2014.
JEFFREY LACASSE: Yes, ma'am.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Did Ms. Adelson tell you anything about the, uh, celebration dinner? Anything about a celebration dinner?
JEFFREY LACASSE: Yes.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Could you tell us about that, please?
JEFFREY LACASSE: Yes. A couple weeks after Professor Markel was murdered, we spoke on the phone and she had mentioned that her and Charlie had gone to — these are her words — she said, "Charlie and I went to what he described as a celebration dinner."
MS. CAPPLEMAN: And that was the dinner where she vomited?
JEFFREY LACASSE: That's right, that's correct.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: And are you aware, Mr. Lacasse, that Ms. Adelson suggested you as a possible suspect in this homicide?
JEFFREY LACASSE: Yes, I am.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: And where were you when Dan Markel was murdered?
JEFFREY LACASSE: I was on the road to Tennessee.
JEFFREY LACASSE: I originally had a trip planned for 11 a.m. on Friday the 18th, and I had at the last moment changed my trip to Thursday night. So I left early, I left early without telling anyone other than the people at the destination. Ms. Adelson was the only person I had told in Tallahassee about the time that I was leaving, which was 11 a.m. on the 18th. I had informed her about that in around June 10th.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: All right, so originally it was going to be July 18th at 11 a.m. would be your departure?
JEFFREY LACASSE: Yes, ma'am.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: And would you be flying or driving?
JEFFREY LACASSE: I was driving.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: All right, and it changed to Thursday night, so you left the night before and were in Tennessee at the time of the homicide?
JEFFREY LACASSE: That's correct.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: No further questions.
JUDGE HANKINSON: Cross.
MR. ZANGENEH: Still morning. Good morning, sir. How are you?
JEFFREY LACASSE: Good morning.
MR. ZANGENEH: Pronounce your last name for me again.
JEFFREY LACASSE: Lacasse.
MR. ZANGENEH: Lacasse. Okay. Just want to make sure I got it right. Mr. Lacasse. So, Wendi Adelson knew you were leaving.
MR. ZANGENEH: Well, you told her you were leaving Friday morning.
JEFFREY LACASSE: Friday morning at 11. We had discussed it because we had some plans that got canceled, so we had discussed it in some detail, actually.
MR. ZANGENEH: And Your plan was to leave Tallahassee and to drive, I guess, northbound?
JEFFREY LACASSE: Thomasville Road, north — northeastbound. Yes, sir.
MR. ZANGENEH: Sure. Let me rephrase that, I'm sorry. Yeah, so your plan was to travel north of Tallahassee to Tennessee, correct?
JEFFREY LACASSE: That's correct.
MR. ZANGENEH: And you told Wendi that, "Hey, listen, I'm going on this trip and I'm leaving Friday morning around 11 a.m.," correct?
JEFFREY LACASSE: That's correct.
MR. ZANGENEH: And do you recall what time the actual shooting took place?
JEFFREY LACASSE: I believe it was right around 11 a.m.
MR. ZANGENEH: The same exact time that you'd be leaving the area?
JEFFREY LACASSE: That's correct.
MR. ZANGENEH: And Although it was for a business trip, people didn't know what your plans were — would you agree with me that it may look like you're leaving the scene if you're traveling outside of the jurisdiction?
JEFFREY LACASSE: That's what I was concerned about — that if I had taken my trip at the scheduled time, I would have looked like I was fleeing, because I would have been driving, I would have taken Capital Circle to Thomasville and been very close to Professor Markel's house, actually.
MR. ZANGENEH: And when did you find out that Ms. Adelson — Wendi Adelson — had suggested that you may be involved in this?
JEFFREY LACASSE: I suspected it from the police interrogations, but they didn't explicitly say that.
JEFFREY LACASSE: Eventually, I was able to view her interrogation video.
MR. ZANGENEH: And by "her," you mean Wendi Adelson?
JEFFREY LACASSE: Yes, sir.
MR. ZANGENEH: And by "interrogation video," you mean interview, correct?
JEFFREY LACASSE: Yes, sir.
MR. ZANGENEH: Because, as you're aware, she has not been charged in this case, correct?
JEFFREY LACASSE: I'm aware of that, yes, sir.
MR. ZANGENEH: And obviously you haven't either, right?
JEFFREY LACASSE: Right.
MR. ZANGENEH: You've been cleared by law enforcement.
JEFFREY LACASSE: Yes, sir.
MR. ZANGENEH: Okay. Now let's talk about your relationship with Wendi Adelson. You started dating her Uh, give me a — give me a time.
JEFFREY LACASSE: September 27, 2013 was our first date.
MR. ZANGENEH: And How long would you say that your relationship with her lasted?
JEFFREY LACASSE: Well, there's different phases of it. In that fall semester we weren't exclusive, it was more casual. It became more serious late February, early March. As far as a serious "I'm your boyfriend, you're my girlfriend" sort of thing, just March through July.
MR. ZANGENEH: Okay, so you started casually dating in September of 2013, and it got more serious at the beginning of 2014, correct?
JEFFREY LACASSE: That's right.
MR. ZANGENEH: Okay. And how did you meet Ms. Adelson? How did you guys first have a date?
JEFFREY LACASSE: Yeah, through mutual friends.
MR. ZANGENEH: Okay. So it wasn't like on a social media dating app or anything else.
JEFFREY LACASSE: No.
MR. ZANGENEH: Okay. Were you aware if Ms. Adelson was participating in online dating?
JEFFREY LACASSE: I think I knew that. Well, I knew that she had dated online in the past. I did not know the time frame.
MR. ZANGENEH: One of your concerns. Okay, so once you guys became exclusive — and by exclusive I mean you called her your girlfriend and she called you her boyfriend — is that fair?
JEFFREY LACASSE: That's correct. And I was involved with the kids at that point and things like that.
MR. ZANGENEH: And it got to the point where she introduced you to her family, right?
JEFFREY LACASSE: That's right.
MR. ZANGENEH: And you indicated that there was a dinner where you met Charlie Adelson?
JEFFREY LACASSE: That's right.
MR. ZANGENEH: Good-looking guy, right?
JEFFREY LACASSE: Sure. Right.
MR. ZANGENEH: Works out?
JEFFREY LACASSE: Yes.
MR. ZANGENEH: When you had your double date, where it was you, Wendi Adelson, Charlie, and Ms. Magbanua, did you see what kind of car Mr. Adelson pulled in?
JEFFREY LACASSE: I don't recall seeing his car in the parking lot. We then went to his house, so I saw his garage and got a look at some of the vehicles he owned, but not that at dinner.
MR. ZANGENEH: What kind of vehicles does he have?
JEFFREY LACASSE: Ferrari is the one that stood out to me.
MR. ZANGENEH: Do you remember the color of the Ferrari?
JEFFREY LACASSE: I don't.
MR. ZANGENEH: Did you make any comments to Wendi about the Ferrari?
JEFFREY LACASSE: Um, well, Wendi used to talk about Charlie having a Ferrari, and that was — she would say, "My brother's a character. He has a Ferrari, he has an undercover cop car, he has a," I think, "a nice," he spends, in addition, on some luxury.
MR. ZANGENEH: So she knew what a Ferrari was, right?
JEFFREY LACASSE: Sure.
MR. ZANGENEH: Well, sure. So it's not like she didn't — she said he's got a Porsche and you saw a Ferrari, right?
JEFFREY LACASSE: No, it was — it was a Ferrari. And I actually remember discussing the cost of maintenance with Charlie. There were some downsides to having a Ferrari.
MR. ZANGENEH: Yeah, yeah, that's tough, tough. Um, so, pretty extensive, uh, car collection, right?
JEFFREY LACASSE: He had multiple cars, yeah. I don't know exactly how many.
MR. ZANGENEH: And did you learn what he did for a living?
JEFFREY LACASSE: Yeah, I knew he was a periodontist from speaking with Wendi.
MR. ZANGENEH: And how many — was that the only night you had direct contact with Mr. — with Charlie Adelson?
JEFFREY LACASSE: That's the only contact I ever had with him, that night.
MR. ZANGENEH: Did he appear to have, uh — was he — did he appear to be intelligent? He—
JEFFREY LACASSE: —had... That's a difficult question. I just met him the one night.
MR. ZANGENEH: That's, uh — I'll withdraw that. Let me ask him a more important question. Was he — was he a socialite? Was he drinking that night?
JEFFREY LACASSE: I don't recall if he was drinking. He was, uh — he was holding forth. He was talking a lot. He was confident. That was my impression of him.
MR. ZANGENEH: He was talking a lot?
JEFFREY LACASSE: Yes.
MR. ZANGENEH: Did you ever see him go to the bathroom?
JEFFREY LACASSE: I don't recall.
MR. ZANGENEH: Did you ever see him — was he perspiring more than a normal person would during dinner?
JEFFREY LACASSE: This is five years ago, I don't remember. We were outside and it was, you know, not cool at that time of year, but yeah.
MR. ZANGENEH: Okay, so you're outside in, like, an open-area restaurant.
JEFFREY LACASSE: Yeah, we were at the Yardbird, on the patio.
MR. ZANGENEH: Okay, the Yardbird in South Beach. Okay. Did you witness Charlie Adelson doing cocaine that night?
JEFFREY LACASSE: I did not.
MR. ZANGENEH: Did not. So this is a guy who's in South Beach, right? Drives a Ferrari, right?
JEFFREY LACASSE: Yes.
MR. ZANGENEH: What had Wendi previously described him as? Having a lot of girlfriends?
JEFFREY LACASSE: Sure.
MR. ZANGENEH: Handsome guy, probably could get attention of women?
JEFFREY LACASSE: I would presume so.
MR. ZANGENEH: But your only face-to-face meeting was that dinner, correct?
JEFFREY LACASSE: Well, that dinner, and then we went back to his house and hung out in his hot tub for a little while, but that was it.
MR. ZANGENEH: And during that time that you went to his — to his house to hang out in the hot tub, did you see him ever go to the bathroom, or was he ever outside of your personal, uh, space?
JEFFREY LACASSE: Yeah, I think all of us were in and out of that hot tub at various points, because we were sitting there a little while.
MR. ZANGENEH: At any point did Charlie Adelson — now look, you're a — you're a law professor, correct?
JEFFREY LACASSE: Uh, professor of social work, actually.
MR. ZANGENEH: Correct. Okay, I'm sorry. You're a professor at the university, correct? I apologize — not law professor. You're an educated person, correct?
JEFFREY LACASSE: Sure.
MR. ZANGENEH: You'll agree with me that a lay person wouldn't solicit you to commit a murder, correct?
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Objection, argumentative.
JUDGE HANKINSON: Sustained.
MR. ZANGENEH: I'll — I'll re-ask this. Did Charlie Adelson ask you to kill Dan Markel?
JEFFREY LACASSE: Did Charlie ask me to?
MR. ZANGENEH: Did he ask you?
JEFFREY LACASSE: No.
MR. ZANGENEH: Of course not.
MR. ZANGENEH: I apologize, I'll withdraw the "of course." And you'll agree with me that at no point did you give him any reason to believe that you would be someone that would do such a nefarious act, correct?
JEFFREY LACASSE: No.
MR. ZANGENEH: The prosecutor asked you about June — 4th, 2014. You recall that?
JEFFREY LACASSE: Yes, sir.
MR. ZANGENEH: And you said that you guys were at the Red Eye coffee shop, right?
JEFFREY LACASSE: Correct.
MR. ZANGENEH: And, well, what time was that?
JEFFREY LACASSE: I had a hair appointment at 2 or 3, so it was at 1 or 2—
MR. ZANGENEH: And so in the early afternoon?
JEFFREY LACASSE: Could have been as early as 12:30, sir.
MR. ZANGENEH: Okay, so around 12:30 on June 4th, 2014, correct.
JEFFREY LACASSE: That's correct.
MR. ZANGENEH: You indicated that she was acting — and by "she" I mean Wendi Adelson — that she was acting unusual.
JEFFREY LACASSE: That's correct.
MR. ZANGENEH: That'd be a fair assessment?
JEFFREY LACASSE: Yes.
MR. ZANGENEH: Did you ask her what was wrong?
JEFFREY LACASSE: I did ask her what was wrong. It was very nonspecific. That happened with Wendi quite a bit, where she was upset and there was not an exact name put to it.
MR. ZANGENEH: Why — was she upset often?
JEFFREY LACASSE: Yes.
MR. ZANGENEH: Would she get these kind of physical reactions often — that her stomach would hurt, or that she would ask you to get her medicine?
JEFFREY LACASSE: I got to know her better in the spring, so I saw more of it than I would have in the fall. That was the only time I can recall that. That was not an average thing. I think that's why I remember it, because it was unusual.
MR. ZANGENEH: And you said that you drove about 35 minutes to get her medicine.
JEFFREY LACASSE: Yeah, it could have been 25, 35 minutes. But where she lived was not convenient to run to the store, so it was a discussion like, do we want to do that? It's all the way down there. And she was so nervous, I thought, no, I'm going.
MR. ZANGENEH: So did she go with you?
JEFFREY LACASSE: No, she did not. We had the kids that night, so she stayed with the children.
MR. ZANGENEH: Did she make any kind of doctor's appointments shortly thereafter, to your knowledge?
JEFFREY LACASSE: Not to my knowledge.
MR. ZANGENEH: Now, you indicated that you guys became boyfriend and girlfriend at the beginning portion of 2014. Is that a correct statement?
JEFFREY LACASSE: Yes, sir.
MR. ZANGENEH: And when would you — when would you tell the members of this jury that your relationship with her ended?
JEFFREY LACASSE: Well, that's a little complicated. On July 14th we went on a date, and when I got home she had sent me an email saying, "I need a week to think, please don't contact me for the next week." So that was the Monday before Professor Markel was killed.
JEFFREY LACASSE: And then we didn't talk for maybe 10 or 12 days after the murder, so I assumed — internally I assumed it was over. You know, that night when you get an email like that, you're probably figuring that it's over. But in subsequent phone calls she acted as if it was still a slightly open issue, and we closed that down by phone calls that, you know, obviously we're going to move on here.
MR. ZANGENEH: Did you ever question her loyalty to you in your relationship with her?
JEFFREY LACASSE: With regularity, yes.
MR. ZANGENEH: And when you say "with regularity," when did you first become suspicious? Now, let me ask this question first: you were concerned that she was seeing other men, right?
JEFFREY LACASSE: I was.
MR. ZANGENEH: Okay. And when did you first start getting this concern?
JEFFREY LACASSE: Probably — March, April time frame I started to wonder. So, not too long after we became a couple, I guess what I was wondering is, have we really become a couple, or is she still doing what she was doing before?
MR. ZANGENEH: So was it like — did you find text messages or direct messages on social media that made you kind of go, what's going on here?
JEFFREY LACASSE: No, I didn't see any text messages or anything on social media.
JEFFREY LACASSE: Her behavior was just erratic. She would disappear.
JEFFREY LACASSE: She would get home very late at night.
JEFFREY LACASSE: So there were signs like that.
MR. ZANGENEH: Would you talk to her about it?
JEFFREY LACASSE: I tried to.
MR. ZANGENEH: Okay. So let me ask you this way. Did she understand that you were concerned about her loyalty, or your relationship being a monogamous one?
JEFFREY LACASSE: To be completely honest, I think we kind of pussyfooted around that until we had that big fight at the end of June. That's what that fight, that argument, was about.
MR. ZANGENEH: Let's talk about that big fight.
JEFFREY LACASSE: Yeah, sure.
MR. ZANGENEH: Why don't you walk the members of the jury through what happened?
JEFFREY LACASSE: Yeah. I had taken Wendi to Gainesville with me. I was teaching in the off-campus program at UF for the weekend, so I took her with me.
MR. ZANGENEH: I'm sorry, was it just you and her? Did she bring the kids?
JEFFREY LACASSE: No, it's just me and her.
MR. ZANGENEH: So like a romantic getaway to Gainesville?
JEFFREY LACASSE: Well, work slash pleasure. I teach during the day, she works in a coffee shop, we have dinner with friends at night, that kind of — you know, it's a nice area.
MR. ZANGENEH: Sounds nice.
JEFFREY LACASSE: Yeah, it was nice, and we started it off fine. The Saturday night we sort of got into it over this stuff. I confronted her about the fact that I suspected that she had been seeing other men.
MR. ZANGENEH: Okay, so let's talk about that.
JEFFREY LACASSE: Yeah.
MR. ZANGENEH: So you're at dinner.
JEFFREY LACASSE: We were actually up in the hotel room. The night was basically over. It was pretty late — it was 9 or 10 o'clock at night when this discussion happened.
MR. ZANGENEH: Okay. And had she had any alcoholic beverages at that point?
JEFFREY LACASSE: We both had, but I think just one or two glasses of wine a couple hours earlier, just socially with dinner, maybe.
MR. ZANGENEH: Yeah. Okay, no more drinking than that. And did you say, listen, I think this, that, or the other — did you have any specifics, or were you just giving a vague, I'm concerned about where this relationship is?
JEFFREY LACASSE: The latter? I was pretty specific. I told her I was very concerned, and particularly concerned because the way she had framed our relationship was, you're not just becoming my boyfriend, I have children, I'm a mother. It's like I was auditioning for the job of husband and father is actually sort of how it felt in retrospect. So I bonded with the kids pretty tightly, and as you can imagine, that kind of discussion gets more complicated when you're serious and there's kids. And she had been talking about me moving in. She had told me not to buy a house, she had told me not to buy a Jeep, that I needed to buy a vehicle that two car seats could fit in.
MR. ZANGENEH: So it sounds like you guys were heading down that path.
JEFFREY LACASSE: Yeah, hence why I raised the issue, because I had some intuitions everything wasn't quite right. Her behavior had been a little erratic, and I was worried about moving in and ending up in a really bad situation.
MR. ZANGENEH: So would it be fair to say that she was saying the wrong things, but her actions were speaking louder than her words?
JEFFREY LACASSE: That's not a bad summary. I was getting two very different messages based on behavior versus what she was speaking to me, what she was saying.
MR. ZANGENEH: Did that argument, or that discussion — did you feel it the next morning?
JEFFREY LACASSE: What do you mean by feel it, sir?
MR. ZANGENEH: Was she acting any different the following morning?
JEFFREY LACASSE: Oh, the next day was probably the most awkward car ride I've ever had in my life. We rode from Gainesville to Tallahassee.
JEFFREY LACASSE: She was crying. I was very upset.
JEFFREY LACASSE: It was a very awkward three-hour drive.
MR. ZANGENEH: It's a three-hour drive?
JEFFREY LACASSE: Three or four, however long.
MR. ZANGENEH: Okay, from Gainesville to Tallahassee, however long that was exactly. Sorry. And this was in June — you said June 20-something. That would have been June 29th? That's the Sunday, the last Sunday in June. Two weeks later, on July 13th, Wendi tells you — or Wendi has this discussion with you that the prosecutor elicited, right?
JEFFREY LACASSE: Yes.
MR. ZANGENEH: From June 29th to July 13th. Would you say your relationship with Wendi after that awkward — that long two or three hour, four hour, however long it is, from Gainesville to Tallahassee — emotional car ride, right?
JEFFREY LACASSE: Yes.
MR. ZANGENEH: She's crying.
JEFFREY LACASSE: Yes.
MR. ZANGENEH: Upset.
JEFFREY LACASSE: Yes.
MR. ZANGENEH: And I would assume — well, let me strike this. Did you believe that she was upset because, like I said, she was saying all the right things, but she wasn't acting like she was talking?
JEFFREY LACASSE: It's very complicated, and she was all over the place, to be frank. At one point she was confessing; at one point she was saying, I never did that. She was saying she couldn't remember some things I wanted to talk about, which was frustrating. So, go ahead.
MR. ZANGENEH: No, no worries. You said she was confessing. Was she admitting to potentially talking to other men?
JEFFREY LACASSE: More than talking — the night before, when we were having the argument. But it was—
MR. ZANGENEH: What was she saying?
JEFFREY LACASSE: You know, it was a heated discussion, so I don't remember every word of it, but at points she kind of let it slip out that my concerns were well-founded, and then five minutes later she would say the opposite. And when I've had to explain this story in the past, I've had to say it doesn't sound like it makes sense, because she was just all over the place. She was hysterical.
MR. ZANGENEH: Okay. So would it be fair to say that at some point she admits to talking to other dudes — I apologize, to talking to other men — and then shortly thereafter denies what she just confessed to?
JEFFREY LACASSE: Well, then, repeat as needed. On the car ride back, she was like, I never did any of that stuff, you don't know what you're talking about, which was kind of crazy-making for me because she had confessed to some of it the night before.
MR. ZANGENEH: Okay, so from June 29th till July 13th, would you say you were fixing the relationship at that point? Was it getting better, or was it getting worse?
JEFFREY LACASSE: It's hard to tell, because on the 29th I left her house. I didn't see her again until July 13. She went to South Florida for those two weeks.
MR. ZANGENEH: Did you guys talk on the phone?
JEFFREY LACASSE: We talked on the phone once in a while. We did some video chats — I talked to the kids on video chat and things like that. But it was very up in the air where the relationship was going to go. I would get a mixture of messages, verbally and by text.
MR. ZANGENEH: Would you agree with me that your level of contact with her between June 29th and July 14th was less than it was before?
JEFFREY LACASSE: Oh, it was minimal. It was minimal. Days and days would go by at points without us talking on the phone. I may get a random text or something, but we weren't talking a lot.
MR. ZANGENEH: And then on July 13th, Wendi in essence tells you that her brother Charlie had looked into hiring a hitman to kill Dan Markel in 2013.
JEFFREY LACASSE: Yes, sir.
MR. ZANGENEH: In 2013?
JEFFREY LACASSE: Yeah.
MR. ZANGENEH: What was your reaction to this?
JEFFREY LACASSE: It was in the context of a relationship discussion. It kind of just blurted out — Wendi has a habit of blurting things out there, kind of tangential or whatever — and so I didn't know what to make of it. My stomach kind of flipped. It was a chilling statement. And then we kind of ended up talking about the relationship again, and so I didn't give it a lot of thought at the time. It was just, like, a crazy thing that someone would say, you know.
MR. ZANGENEH: Okay. Very crazy.
JEFFREY LACASSE: Yeah.
MR. ZANGENEH: But let me ask you this: did you take that statement as a threat to you? And let me kind of clarify this — she indicated that because of her bad relationship with Mr. Markel, correct? And you'll agree with me that they had a bad relationship, right?
JEFFREY LACASSE: That's how she characterized it.
MR. ZANGENEH: You'll agree with me that she said, based on a bad relationship, that her brother had looked into hiring somebody to kill him. Correct?
JEFFREY LACASSE: Well, that was specifically about the relocation, is what she said in that statement.
JEFFREY LACASSE: I know they had bad blood otherwise, for other reasons, certainly. But that was specifically tied to the relocation battle being lost.
JEFFREY LACASSE: That was what prompted Charlie to look into it, according to her statement.
MR. ZANGENEH: This conversation that you had on July 13th — where was it?
JEFFREY LACASSE: It was in her house on Aqua Ridge.
MR. ZANGENEH: Was anybody else around when she made the statement?
JEFFREY LACASSE: No, sir.
MR. ZANGENEH: Did you contact any of your friends after this conversation and discuss the fact that Wendi Adelson had indicated that her brother had looked to hire a hitman?
JEFFREY LACASSE: In what time frame?
MR. ZANGENEH: Okay. So on July 13th, when the conversation's over, do you stay there that night?
JEFFREY LACASSE: No. You know, we ended with me telling Wendi, if this isn't going to work for you, you can text me, we can just break up, I don't want a big thing, you know. And I left for the night. I did not stay.
MR. ZANGENEH: You have, like, a family member or a best friend that you talk to about personal issues?
JEFFREY LACASSE: I have several, sure.
MR. ZANGENEH: Okay. Did you call or contact any of them on the way back to discuss what transpired? And I'm not talking about the breakup.
JEFFREY LACASSE: Yeah. Okay.
MR. ZANGENEH: I'm sorry — I am talking about the breakup.
JEFFREY LACASSE: Yeah, yeah.
MR. ZANGENEH: Okay. Did you call your friend?
JEFFREY LACASSE: Listen, you know, it ended with me and Wendi — you know, that's summertime at FSU, a lot of these people were out of town, some of them were even overseas, so it was less contact than there ordinarily would have been. But I'm sure I discussed the fact — well, not that night, because it was so late. What I remember is the next day, when I get this email saying don't contact me for a week, I certainly shared that with friends, because I found it really frustrating and surprising, and thought it was weird.
MR. ZANGENEH: Did you share with any of your friends the comment that Wendi Adelson made to you with regards to her brother and the murder-for-hire?
JEFFREY LACASSE: I'm sure I did. I just couldn't tell you who or when I did that. But certainly, after the murder occurred, certainly I shared that with people. I also shared it with the police the first day they brought me in.
MR. ZANGENEH: So you were interviewed by law enforcement in this case, correct?
JEFFREY LACASSE: Yes, sir.
MR. ZANGENEH: During your interview with law enforcement, did you mention this statement?
JEFFREY LACASSE: I did.
MR. ZANGENEH: Okay. Did you tell — it was Detective Isom that interviewed you, him and an investigator, Hale. Okay. Did you indicate to them who you had shared this information with?
JEFFREY LACASSE: Judge, it's not — can you state the question?
MR. ZANGENEH: No worries. So when you tell them what Wendi told you about her brother's murder-for-hire plot, did you say, yeah, listen, you know, I spoke to my buddy — because the murder happened on the 18th, correct?
JEFFREY LACASSE: That's correct.
MR. ZANGENEH: And so four days prior to that is when you got that breakup — was it an email or a text message?
JEFFREY LACASSE: It was an email.
MR. ZANGENEH: Okay. So you get a written breakup email, and so you call your friends, which is normal, right? And you indicated just a few minutes ago that you probably mentioned the murder-for-hire to some of your friends, right?
JEFFREY LACASSE: At some point. I just don't know when.
MR. ZANGENEH: Okay. What about — was this before or after your interview with law enforcement?
JEFFREY LACASSE: Was what before or after?
MR. ZANGENEH: Your discussions with friends.
JEFFREY LACASSE: Well, after I had told it to the police, I certainly discussed it. I'm confident I may have done it before as well; I don't recall that. But after I told the police, I did share that with some people confidentially.
MR. ZANGENEH: Now, she told you — and by "she" I'm referring to Wendi Adelson — during your July 13 conversation that he had looked, and the price was either 15 or 50,000, correct?
JEFFREY LACASSE: Correct.
MR. ZANGENEH: So it's one or the other, correct?
JEFFREY LACASSE: Right.
MR. ZANGENEH: And would it be fair to say, based on your testimony, that she said that that price was too high?
JEFFREY LACASSE: No, she didn't. She didn't offer any further context or explanation. It was kind of the thing that was blurted out, and then, what, 20 seconds later she started talking about something else, and I can't recall what that was. I think it was the relationship stuff that I was very focused on.
MR. ZANGENEH: So out of nowhere she tells you Charlie was going to look to hire a hitman, who's going to cost 15 or 50,000, and you don't go back to that?
JEFFREY LACASSE: I don't know that it was out of nowhere. I believe preceding that was a discussion that if anything ever happened to Danny she would move to Miami. I think I've spoken to the investigator; I asked him about that previously.
MR. ZANGENEH: And listen, I have to ask, Mr. Lacasse: at no point did you contact law enforcement after you heard of this threat, so they could contact Mr. Markel to see if there's any need to protect him in any way, shape, or form?
JEFFREY LACASSE: I didn't.
MR. ZANGENEH: Give me one second, Your Honor. Just a few more questions, sir.
JEFFREY LACASSE: Sure.
MR. ZANGENEH: Would I be correct or incorrect in assuming, or in saying, that you were interested in having a monogamous relationship with Wendi Adelson?
JEFFREY LACASSE: I thought I had a monogamous relationship with Wendi Adelson.
MR. ZANGENEH: And you wanted to keep it, correct?
JEFFREY LACASSE: Depends when you're asking.
MR. ZANGENEH: On July 13th, 2014.
JEFFREY LACASSE: Yeah, that's — yeah, that's right.
MR. ZANGENEH: Okay. I'm sorry to ask such personal questions.
JEFFREY LACASSE: I know.
MR. ZANGENEH: Did you think it's unusual? Well, let me ask this: at some point did you ever see a picture of Dan Markel?
JEFFREY LACASSE: Sure.
MR. ZANGENEH: Sure. Do you think that there's a resemblance between yourself and him?
JEFFREY LACASSE: Everybody always says that. When I was dating her, no one ever brought it up. I see it from the pictures. In real life I was never told that while we were dating.
MR. ZANGENEH: And as you indicated before, you're also a professor.
JEFFREY LACASSE: Yes, correct.
MR. ZANGENEH: Do you feel wronged by Wendi Adelson?
JEFFREY LACASSE: Do I feel wronged?
MR. ZANGENEH: Yes, sir.
JEFFREY LACASSE: Yes.
MR. ZANGENEH: No further questions.
JUDGE HANKINSON: Magbanua.
MR. DECOSTE: Yes, Your Honor. Thank you.
MR. DECOSTE: Good morning.
MR. DECOSTE: The questions I'm about to ask you are about the investigation into you — not that we believe you're a suspect, okay?
JEFFREY LACASSE: I understand.
MR. DECOSTE: You would agree with me that at the beginning of the case, in July 2014, there was a thought that you were a potential suspect.
JEFFREY LACASSE: That's what I've been told, yes.
MR. DECOSTE: You were contacted by the police.
JEFFREY LACASSE: I was.
MR. DECOSTE: You came in, you were interviewed.
JEFFREY LACASSE: Yes, I came straight from my trip into TPD.
MR. DECOSTE: Three separate times you were interviewed, right?
JEFFREY LACASSE: Yes.
MR. DECOSTE: Now, they didn't handcuff you at gunpoint and drag you into the station, right?
JEFFREY LACASSE: No, they asked me to come in, so I came in voluntarily. I went in, yes.
MR. DECOSTE: You told them what you knew, you explained the information, right?
JEFFREY LACASSE: Yes.
MR. DECOSTE: Eventually you helped them get bank records to show where you were — it was in Tennessee, right?
JEFFREY LACASSE: Yeah, I believe it was cell phone records and a receipt from a Kmart and surveillance video of me, was my understanding of it.
MR. DECOSTE: So they get your bank records, they see a transaction at a Walmart, right?
JEFFREY LACASSE: Yeah, credit card records, yes, sir.
MR. DECOSTE: There's then a receipt, and then they go actually to the Walmart, get their surveillance footage that shows you there.
JEFFREY LACASSE: Yeah, it was a Kmart, but yes, sir.
MR. DECOSTE: And then you were cleared.
JEFFREY LACASSE: That's correct.
MR. DECOSTE: You would agree with me that they objectively investigated you.
JEFFREY LACASSE: Yes.
MR. DECOSTE: Now, had they not gotten the bank records, the Walmart video, or anything like that, one could paint a picture that you were involved, just the fact that you left town right when the murder happened and you had this connection.
JEFFREY LACASSE: Well, except that I wasn't in the state at the time of the murder, so how could I have done it?
MR. DECOSTE: So what we're talking about here is that somebody could paint the picture. Okay? Without all the evidence.
JEFFREY LACASSE: Yeah, if they don't have all the evidence, sure.
MR. DECOSTE: Let's go to something you said on direct, talking about June 4th.
JEFFREY LACASSE: Yes.
MR. DECOSTE: And you appear to have a very good memory of all the instances. You said that Wendi had the kids on June 4th, the night of June 4th.
JEFFREY LACASSE: Yes.
MR. DECOSTE: You spent a lot of time with Wendi, spent a lot of time with the kids. You knew their daily schedule, the boys, right?
JEFFREY LACASSE: I knew — not so much, because I usually got there in the evening. So at the time I would know what day she had the kids, but as far as pickup times and things like that, I usually saw them at the end of the day. I accompanied her just a couple times to pick up the kids, so I don't want to sound like I'm an expert on that, because I'm not.
MR. DECOSTE: So June 4th, she has the kids.
MR. DECOSTE: The next morning, June 5th, she would have taken them to Creative Preschool.
JEFFREY LACASSE: She would have, but I never stayed over there when the kids were there, so I wouldn't have known that, because I left at the end of the night if the kids were there, every time.
MR. DECOSTE: That would have been consistent with the custody setup that she had with Dan Markel, correct?
JEFFREY LACASSE: Yeah, depending on what the days on the schedule were, which I don't recall. I used to know that; I don't anymore.
MR. DECOSTE: It wouldn't have been that he'd come and pick them up at her house and then bring them over to Creative Preschool.
JEFFREY LACASSE: I never saw that.
MR. DECOSTE: So it would have been consistent that on June 5th she would have dropped the kids off. Let's talk about Charlie Adelson. Understanding that you didn't have a close relationship with him — you met him and you hung out with him.
JEFFREY LACASSE: Yeah, for a few hours.
MR. DECOSTE: To you — and I'm going to use your words — he seemed like somebody that hung out on both sides of the tracks, right?
JEFFREY LACASSE: That's the way he presented himself in that hot tub, yes.
MR. DECOSTE: And you took that to be accurate?
JEFFREY LACASSE: Yes, I took his self-presentation to be accurate, that's correct.
MR. DECOSTE: During the day he's wearing a lab coat or scrubs or whatever dentists wear, right?
JEFFREY LACASSE: Right.
MR. DECOSTE: And then when he's off work, he's going out, he's hanging out at the gym with less savory people.
JEFFREY LACASSE: Yeah, that was sort of his characterization. I was sort of repeating what he said.
MR. DECOSTE: In your words, less savory individuals.
JEFFREY LACASSE: Gritty. I don't remember his exact words, but gritty, something like that. I don't remember his exact words, but yeah, that's how he presented himself in that hot tub. It seemed to be almost a braggadocio kind of thing, like, look at me, I'm on both sides.
MR. DECOSTE: And you took him to be a street-smart guy.
JEFFREY LACASSE: I did.
MR. DECOSTE: He had friends that were ex-special ops.
JEFFREY LACASSE: Yes, that's what he said.
MR. DECOSTE: His gym friends, that to you almost came off as nefarious.
JEFFREY LACASSE: Well, yeah. And I don't remember the details at this point, but he was talking about deals they were doing. There was a lot of hinting and innuendo. But yeah, you're accurately presenting how he presented to me.
MR. DECOSTE: Let's go now to the dinner on March 11, 2014.
JEFFREY LACASSE: Sure.
MR. DECOSTE: It was outside, it was on Miami Beach, if you remember — and you may not. Do you remember seeing a pickup truck with two gentlemen outside of the restaurant watching you guys?
JEFFREY LACASSE: No.
MR. DECOSTE: Let's go now to July 14th, 2014. Okay. Now, you had met Katherine Magbanua several months prior to that.
JEFFREY LACASSE: Yeah, I met her in March.
MR. DECOSTE: So March, April, May, June, July. Wendi is opening up to you and saying what her brother had looked into doing, right?
JEFFREY LACASSE: I think you're talking about the 13th, I think.
MR. DECOSTE: July 13th?
JEFFREY LACASSE: Yeah, yeah.
MR. DECOSTE: Okay.
JEFFREY LACASSE: Yeah, go ahead.
MR. DECOSTE: So July 13, 2014, she's talking about her brother hiring a hitman. She's giving you incriminating details, right?
JEFFREY LACASSE: Yes.
MR. DECOSTE: Never said anything about the involvement of Katherine Magbanua, right?
JEFFREY LACASSE: No. It was three sentences, so no, she didn't.
MR. DECOSTE: All right, let's talk about now the options that he looked into doing to take care of the problem, right?
JEFFREY LACASSE: Right.
MR. DECOSTE: On direct examination, the State Attorney's Office asked you what year it was.
MR. DECOSTE: But there was more specifics to that. It was specifically the summer of 2013, right?
JEFFREY LACASSE: Yes, it was attached to the relocation. So it was after relocation had failed, where she'd been denied the motion for relocation.
MR. DECOSTE: But I want to make sure it's clear, because we didn't have the full information from direct examination.
MR. DECOSTE: What Wendi told you is that her brother looked into hiring a hitman in the summer of 2013.
JEFFREY LACASSE: That's correct.
MR. DECOSTE: And that would have been before he even knew Katherine Magbanua.
JEFFREY LACASSE: Yeah, I don't know when they met, but if you say so.
MR. DECOSTE: One brief moment, Your Honor.
MR. DECOSTE: The breakup email on July 14, 2014 — I know you had some phone contact after that, but was that basically the end of your relationship?
JEFFREY LACASSE: That's the last time I ever saw her.
MR. DECOSTE: Okay.
JEFFREY LACASSE: We did have some — it was in August, it was after. We didn't talk between then and after the murder.
MR. DECOSTE: Okay. And you never got back together and resumed your relationship?
JEFFREY LACASSE: Oh, no. No, no.
MR. DECOSTE: No further questions.
JUDGE HANKINSON: All right. Did any of you have a question of this witness? Write your question down, we'll go to the sidebar.
JUDGE HANKINSON: A series of questions from the jury.
JUDGE HANKINSON: The email — the July 14, 2014 email — was that on an FSU website or a private website?
JUDGE HANKINSON: Do you have any recollection?
JEFFREY LACASSE: I think that was from Wendi's Gmail account.
JUDGE HANKINSON: Okay. What about to you?
JEFFREY LACASSE: Oh, that would have been to my Gmail as well.
JUDGE HANKINSON: Okay. So the answer is no, it was not on an FSU website.
JEFFREY LACASSE: Correct.
JEFFREY LACASSE: Best of my recollection.
JUDGE HANKINSON: Okay. Did Ms. Adelson indicate that she wanted to relocate to have the children full time?
JEFFREY LACASSE: She talked about — she didn't talk directly about relocating, because she knew that was no longer a possibility. But the other side of that coin, how unhappy she was in Tallahassee and how frustrated she was by the child custody, were issues that came up, if not every day, every week. They came up very frequently.
JUDGE HANKINSON: Okay, so that was actually the next question — about, she frequently spoke about the divorce and the custody battle.
JEFFREY LACASSE: Yes. Yes, consistently throughout the entire relationship.
JUDGE HANKINSON: And did she appear distressed when she didn't have the children with her?
JEFFREY LACASSE: Sometimes, yes. Yes.
JUDGE HANKINSON: What kind of vehicle were you driving back in July 2014?
JEFFREY LACASSE: I was driving a 2004 four-door silver Nissan Sentra.
JUDGE HANKINSON: All right, you can remain under the rule of sequestration, so don't discuss the case with anyone, but you're free to go about your business. You have a phone number for him if he should need it?
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Yes, sir.
JUDGE HANKINSON: All right. Thank you. You may step down. Call your next witness.